Cornelius Ingram
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cornelius Ingram (born on June 10, 1985 in Hawthorne, Florida) is a tight end for the University of Florida Gators in the NCAA college football tournament. A basketball player and a quarterback in high school, Ingram has made a smooth transition to football and tight end in the collegiate level and is versatile enough to line up in other positions: receiver, slot, and H-back, among others. With an increased role in the Florida offense during his junior year, Ingram has moved into the national radar after being named into the All-SEC team by both the league media and coaches while being mentioned as a contender for the John Mackey Award for the nation's best tight end in 2007.
Contents |
[edit] Personal Life
Cornelius, or C.I. to his coaches and teammates, is a native of Hawthorne, a small town about 20 miles outside of Gainesville. His brother Greg Bowie, who helped him prepare for games, also played at Hawthorne. His uncle Jaime MacDonald, like him, was also a converted tight end in football, making the transition from fullback because he was so big. His cousin was once teammates with fellow UF player Shawn Schmieder in high school. He and ex-Gator Derrick Harvey were roomates when they played together at UF. Cornelius, who majors in Anthropology, is the first one in the family who had the opportunity to graduate in college.
When he was an 8th grader, he played in pick-up games on the courts in Gainesville with the likes of Udonis Haslem, Willie Jackson, Chris Doering, and other future Florida Gator basketball players.
[edit] High School
Ingram was a versatile two-sport athlete during his high school days at Hawthorne, playing football and basketball (under coach James Haynes) for the Hornets. As a junior, the shooting guard averaged 25 points per game on the hardwood while throwing for over 1,500 yards, rushing for over 500 yards and accounting for a total of 15 touchdowns on the gridiron. In 2003, he led the Hornets to a 7-0 start, finishing the season with over 1,400 passing yards and 22 touchdowns thrown. By the end of his high school career, the two-time Class 1A all-state pick in both football and basketball became one of the most sought after recruits in the state of Florida with several recruting websites and football publications listing him on their "elite" list. Ingram was included on TheInsiders.com's Hot 100 list in addition to being ranked as a four-star athlete and the 11th-best quarterback prospect in the nation by the website. Rivals.com also gave him a 4-star rating as an athlete while ranking him the #3 QB in the nation, the #22 player on the Southeast Elite 88 list, and the #62 player on its 100 list. GatorCountry.com also had Ingram as its best quarterback and player on its Pre-Season Top 101 list while The Sporting News ranked him #49 on its Top 100. He was also invited to the Elite 11 Quarterback Camp in California to compete against some of the nation's top quarterbacks.
During the summer, Ingram also played hoops with the Tallahassee Wildcats in the AAU Tournament, competing in Las Vegas, Savannah and Orlando.
[edit] College
Growing up as a fan of the Seminoles, Ingram considered playing for Florida State in college. FSU was one of the many universities that offered him scholarships in football and basketball, a list that included Florida, Tennessee, Syracuse, Michigan State, Louisville, Wake Forest, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Clemson and N.C. State. He eventually decided to play for coach Ron Zook at Florida.
[edit] 2004
As a freshman, Ingram worked as a quarterback for the scout team but did not see action during the season. He was named Scout team “Player of the Week” for the Arkansas game. While sitting out as a football player, Ingram managed to see action as a basketball player under coach Billy Donovan, joining the team on the 15th of October for practice before going on to play 19 games throughout the season. In his first and only year on the Gator basketball team, Ingram played in 108 minutes, scored 26 points, hauled in 10 rebounds, dished out 9 assists and had 3 steals.
[edit] 2005
Upon coach Zook's firing, Ingram decided to leave the basketball team to focus on his football career. Some of his former basketball and football teammates would tease him about leaving the basketball squad that went on to win the national championship the same year he left, telling him that he would've been one of the first guys to have a national championship ring in football and basketball.
As a redshirt freshman, Ingram moved to the receiver position in order to get more playing time. He started the year out though as a quarterback and saw the field for the first time in the second game of the season against Louisiana Tech where he directed one offensive drive in the fourth quarter and finished the game with 2 rushing attempts and a gain of 8 yards in the 41-3 victory. The last time he saw action during the year was in his first bowl game appearance, taking on Iowa for the Outback Bowl. He appeared in several offensive plays at wide receiver during that game but did not tally any stat in the 31-24 win.
[edit] 2006
Despite the change in position, Ingram failed to earn playing time from coach Urban Meyer and understandably, his frustrations which were amplified by comments from friends and relatives about not earning equal opportunity, pushed him to decide on transferring to another school. But with the advice of former UF players Vernell Brown and Jarvis Herring, he decided to remain a Gator for his sophomore year.
In the spring game, Ingram played for the victorious Orange team, recording a pass attempt and catching a team high 7 passes for 58 yards. During the season opener, he caught a pass for 12 yards in the 34-7 win over Southern Miss, then made his starting debut at the tight end position against Central Florida the following week where he caught 3 passes for 35 yards in the shut-out victory. He relinquished the starting TE spot to Tate Casey in UF's road opener @ Tennessee but still managed to catch 2 passes for 40 yards in the slim 1-point win over the Vols. Against Kentucky, Ingram had 2 receptions for 13 yards, including a 6-yard connection from Chris Leak in the fourth quarter for his first career touchdown in the 26-7 victory. For the next five games, Ingram continued to see some minutes, tallying catches in wins over LSU (6 yards) and Georgia (7 yards). After a 3-catch, 50-yard effort against South Carolina, he caught a team-high four passes and totaled 59 yards receiving in the shut-out rout of Western Carolina, before ending the regular season with 3 catches for 29 yards in the win over FSU.
In the SEC Championship Game at Atlanta against 8th ranked Arkansas, Ingram came off the bench to establish a career high of 6 receptions and 71 receiving yards in the 38-28 win. He made the start against Ohio State in the BCS National Championship Game and had 4 catches for 58 yards in the 41-14 win. He ended the year with 30 receptions for 380 yards (12.7 avg.) and one touchdown in 14 appearances.
[edit] 2007
As one of the Gators' more experienced returnees, Ingram was selected to be part of the team's Leadership Committee, a group charged with acting as spokesmen for the team and handling situations related to team policy issues, academic affairs, off-campus circumstances and other topics. Coach Meyer also named him as the “Face of Florida Football” during the spring, a title tagged to a leader who has overcome adversity and gets little outside recognition before having a breakout season. He was the third to earn the title, following cornerback Vernell Brown and wide receiver Jermaille Cornelius. [1]
He began the year with an off the bench performance against Western Kentucky where he hauled in a pass of 11 yards. In another reserve role against Troy, Ingram caught his first touchdown of the season (second career TD) via a 5-yard pass from Tim Tebow before finishing the game with a new career high of 105 yards receiving on 7 catches. He got his first start of the year the following week against #22 Tennessee, catching 3 passes for 56 yards in the 59-20 win. Following his 2-catch, 41-yard effort in the win over Ole Miss, Ingram contributed a touchdown reception a piece in losses to Auburn and LSU, with a combined 6 receptions and 80 receiving yards on those setbacks. He also scored a TD in the win over UK, the first time in his career that he caught a TD for the third straight game. After being limited on UF's next three games, Ingram registered another personal milestone when he tallied 2 TD receptions in the 59-20 homecoming win over Florida Atlantic. He ended the regular season with five catches for 75 yards in the 45-12 win over Florida State, before making his third straight postseason appearance at the Capital One Bowl where he was able to chip in a catch for 17 yards in the 35-41 loss to Michigan.
Ingram finished his junior campaign as the team's fourth leading receiver with 34 receptions for 508 yards (39.1 ypg) while tying Andre Caldwell for the most TD receptions at 7. He also made it to the Coaches' and the AP's All-SEC Second Team.
[edit] 2008
In early January, Ingram decided to forgo his senior year with the Gators and enter the 2008 NFL draft. He later on took his word back and announced that he would don the Florida jersey for the last time. The NFL Draft Advisory Committee projected Ingram to go in the top three rounds.
[edit] Career Stats
| Receiving | Rushing | |||||||||
| Year | Rec | RecYds | Avg | Lng | TD | Att | RshYds | Avg | Lng | TD |
| 2005 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 7 | 0 |
| 2006 | 30 | 380 | 12.7 | 38 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 34 | 508 | 14.9 | 37 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
[edit] Achievements
[edit] 2008
- Athlon Sports Preseason First-Team All-SEC
- Phil Steele Preseason First Team All-SEC
- Phil Steele Preseason Fourth Team All-America
[edit] 2007
- All-SEC second team (Coaches)
- Associated Press All-SEC second team
- Mackey Award Candidate
- Phil Steele All-SEC Honorable Mention
- Rivals.com All-SEC second team
[edit] 2004
- Scout team “Player of the Week” (vs. Arkansas)
